Chapter XIV: Part 14

The separation of gold from silver in the wet way may be effected by
nitric acid, sulphuric acid or by a mixture of sulphuric acid and
_aqua regia_.

Parting by nitric acid is of considerable antiquity, being mentioned
by Albertus Magnus (13th cent.), Biringuccio (1540) and Agricola
(1556). It is now rarely practised, although in some refineries both
the nitric acid and the sulphuric acid processes are combined, the
alloy being first treated with nitric acid. It used to be called
"quartation" or "inquartation," from the fact that the alloy best
suited for the operation of refining contained 3 parts of silver to 1
of gold. The operation may be conducted in vessels of glass or
platinum, and each pound of granulated metal is treated with a pound
and a quarter of nitric acid of specific gravity 1.32. The method is
sometimes employed in the assay of gold.

Refining by sulphuric acid, the process usually adopted for separating
gold from silver, was first employed on the large scale by d'Arcet in
Paris in 1802, and was introduced into the Mint refinery, London, by
Mathison in 1829. It is based upon the facts that concentrated hot
sulphuric acid converts silver and copper into soluble sulphates
without attacking the gold, the silver sulphate being subsequently
reduced to the metallic state by copper plates with the formation of
copper sulphate. It is applicable to any alloy, and is the best method
for parting gold with the exception of the electrolytic method.

The process embraces four operations: (1) the preparation of an alloy
suitable for parting; (2) the treatment with sulphuric acid; (3) the
treatment of the residue for gold; (4) the treatment of the solution
for silver.

It is necessary to remove as completely as possible any lead, tin,
bismuth, antimony, arsenic and tellurium, impurities which impair the
properties of gold and silver, by an oxidizing fusion, e.g. with
nitre. Over 10% of copper makes the parting difficult; consequently in
such alloys the percentage of copper is diminished by the addition of
silver free from copper, or else the copper is removed by a chemical
process. Other undesirable impurities are the platinum metals, special
treatment being necessary when these substances are present. The
alloy, after the preliminary refining, is granulated by being poured,
while molten, in a thin stream into cold water which is kept well
agitated.

The acid treatment is generally carried out in cast iron pots;
platinum vessels used to be employed, while porcelain vessels are only
used for small operations, e.g. for charges of 190 to 225 oz. as at
Oker in the Harz. The pots, which are usually cylindrical with a
hemispherical bottom, may hold as much as 13,000 to 16,000 oz. of
alloy. They are provided with lids, made either of lead or of wood
lined with lead, which have openings to serve for the introduction of
the alloy and acid, and a vent tube to lead off the vapours evolved
during the operation. The bullion with about twice its weight of
sulphuric acid of 66 deg. Be is placed in the pot, and the whole
gradually heated. Since the action is sometimes very violent,
especially when the bullion is treated in the granulated form (it is
steadier when thin plates are operated upon), it is found expedient to
add the acid in several portions. The heating is continued for 4 to 12
hours according to the amount of silver present; the end of the
reaction is known by the absence of any hissing. Generally the
reaction mixture is allowed to cool, and the residue, which settles to
the bottom of the pot, consists of gold together with copper, lead and
iron sulphates, which are insoluble in strong sulphuric acid; silver
sulphate may also separate if present in sufficient quantity and the
solution be sufficiently cooled. The solution is removed by ladles or
by siphons, and the residue is leached out with boiling water; this
removes the sulphates. A certain amount of silver is still present
and, according to M. Pettenkofer, it is impossible to remove all the
silver by means of sulphuric acid. Several methods are in use for
removing the silver. Fusion with an alkaline bisulphate converts the
silver into the sulphate, which may be extracted by boiling with
sulphuric acid and then with water. Another process consists in
treating a mixture of the residue with one-quarter of its weight of
calcined sodium sulphate with sulphuric acid, the residue being
finally boiled with a large quantity of acid. Or the alloy is
dissolved in _aqua regia_, the solution filtered from the insoluble
silver chloride, and the gold precipitated by ferrous chloride.

The silver present in the solution obtained in the sulphuric acid
boiling is recovered by a variety of processes. The solution may be
directly precipitated with copper, the copper passing into solution as
copper sulphate, and the silver separating as a mud, termed "cement
silver." Or the silver sulphate may be separated from the solution by
cooling and dilution, and then mixed with iron clippings, the
interaction being accompanied with a considerable evolution of heat.
Or Gutzkow's method of precipitating the metal with ferrous sulphate
may be employed.

The electrolytic parting of gold and silver has been shown to be more
economical and free from the objections--such as the poisonous
fumes--of the sulphuric acid process. One process depends upon the
fact that, with a suitable current density, if a very dilute solution
of silver nitrate be electrolysed between an auriferous silver anode
and a silver cathode, the silver of the anode is dissolved out and
deposited at the cathode, the gold remaining at the anode. The silver
is quite free from gold, and the gold after boiling with nitric acid
has a fineness of over 999.

Gold is left in the anode slime when copper or silver are refined by
the usual processes, but if the gold preponderate in the anode these
processes are inapplicable. A cyanide bath, as used in electroplating,
would dissolve the gold, but is not suitable for refining, because
other metals (silver, copper, &c.) passing with gold into the solution
would deposit with it. Bock, however, in 1880 (_Berg- und
huttenmannische Zeitung_, 1880, p. 411) described a process used at
the North German Refinery in Hamburg for the refining of gold
containing platinum with a small proportion of silver, lead or
bismuth, and a subsequent patent specification (1896) and a paper by
Wohlwill (_Zeits. f. Elektrochem._, 1898, pp. 379, 402, 421) have
thrown more light upon the process. The electrolyte is gold chloride
(2.5-3 parts of pure gold per 100 of solution) mixed with from 2 to 6%
of the strongest hydrochloric acid to render the gold anodes readily
soluble, which they are not in the neutral chloride solution. The bath
is used at 65 deg. to 70 deg. C. (150 deg. to 158 deg. F.), and if
free chlorine be evolved, which is known at once by its pungent smell,
the temperature is raised, or more acid is added, to promote the
solubility of the gold. The bath is used with a current-density of 100
amperes per sq. ft. at 1 volt (or higher), with electrodes about 1.2
in. apart. In this process all the anode metals pass into solution
except iridium and other refractory metals of that group, which remain
as metals, and silver, which is converted into insoluble chloride;
lead and bismuth form chloride and oxychloride respectively, and these
dissolve until the bath is saturated with them, and then precipitate
with the silver in the tank. But if the gold-strength of the bath be
maintained, only gold is deposited at the cathode--in a loose powdery
condition from pure solutions, but in a smooth detachable deposit from
impure liquors. Under good conditions the gold should contain 99.98%
of the pure metal. The tank is of porcelain or glazed earthenware, the
electrodes for impure solutions are 1/2 in. apart (or more with pure
solutions), and are on the multiple system, and the potential
difference at the terminals of the bath is 1 volt. A high
current-density being employed, the turn-over of gold is rapid--an
essential factor of success when the costliness of the metal is taken
into account. Platinum and palladium dissolved from the anode
accumulate in the solution, and are removed at intervals of, say, a
few months by chemical precipitation. It is essential that the bath
should not contain more than 5% of palladium, or some of this metal
will deposit with the gold. The slimes are treated chemically for the
separation of the metals contained in them.

AUTHORITIES.--Standard works on the metallurgy of gold are the
treatises of T. Kirke Rose and of M. Eissler. The cyanide process is
especially treated by M. Eissler, _Cyanide Process for the Extraction
of Gold_, which pays particular attention to the Witwatersrand
methods; Alfred James, _Cyanide Practice_; H. Forbes Julian and Edgar
Smart, _Cyaniding Gold and Silver Ores_. Gold milling is treated by
Henry Louis, _A Handbook of Gold Milling_; C. G. Warnford Lock, _Gold
Milling_; T. A. Rickard, _Stamp Milling of Gold Ores_. Gold dredging
is treated by Captain C. C. Longridge in _Gold Dredging_, and
hydraulic mining is discussed by the same author in his _Hydraulic
Mining_. For operations in special districts see J. M. Maclaren,
_Gold_ (1908); J. H. Curle, _Gold Mines of the World_; Africa: F. H.
Hatch and J. A. Chalmers, _Gold Mines of the Rand_; S. J. Truscott,
_Witwatersrand Goldfields Banket and Mining Practice_; Australasia: D.
Clark, _Australian Mining and Metallurgy_; Karl Schmeisser,
_Goldfields of Australasia_; A. G. Charleton, _Gold Mining and Milling
in Western Australia_; India: F. H. Hatch, _The Kolar Gold-Field_.

GOLD AND SILVER THREAD. Under this heading some general account may be given of gold and silver strips, threads and gimp used in connexion with varieties of weaving, embroidery and twisting and plaiting or lace work. To this day, in many oriental centres where it seems that early traditions of the knowledge and the use of fabrics wholly or partly woven, ornamented, and embroidered with gold and silver have been maintained, the passion for such brilliant and costly textiles is still strong and prevalent. One of the earliest mentions of the use of gold in a woven fabric occurs in the description of the ephod made for Aaron (Exod. xxxix. 2, 3), "And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires (strips), to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, with cunning work." This is suggestive of early Syrian or Arabic in-darning or weaving with gold strips or tinsel. In both the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_ allusion is frequently made to inwoven and embroidered golden textiles. Assyrian sculpture gives an elaborately designed ornament upon the robe of King Assur-nasir-pal (884 B.C.) which was probably an interweaving of gold and coloured threads, and testifies to the consummate skill of Assyrian or Babylonian workers at that date. From Assyrian and Babylonian weavers the conquering Persians of the time of Darius derived their celebrity as weavers and users of splendid stuffs. Herodotus describes the corselet given by Amasis king of Egypt to the Minerva of Lindus and how it was inwoven or embroidered with gold. Darius, we are told, wore a war mantle on which were figured (probably inwoven) two golden hawks as if pecking at each other. Alexander the Great is said to have found Eastern kings and princes arrayed in robes of gold and purple. More than two hundred years later than Alexander the Great was the king of Pergamos (the third bearing the name Attalus) who gave much attention to working in metals and is mentioned by Pliny as having invented weaving with gold, hence the historic Attalic cloths. There are several references in Roman writings to costumes and stuffs woven and embroidered with gold threads and the Graeco-Roman _chryso-phrygium_ and the Roman _auri-phrygium_ are evidences not only of Roman work with gold threads but also of its indebtedness to Phrygian sources. The famous tunics of Agrippina and those of Heliogabalus are said to have been of tissues made entirely with gold threads, whereas the robes which Marcus Aurelius found in the treasury of Hadrian, as well as the costumes sold at the dispersal of the wardrobe of Commodus, were different in character, being of fine linen and possibly even of silken stuffs inwoven or embroidered with gold threads. The same description is perhaps correct of the reputedly splendid hangings with which King Dagobert decorated the early medieval oratory of St Denis. Reference to these and many such stuffs is made by the respectively contemporary or almost contemporary writers; and a very full and interesting work by Monsieur Francisque Michel (Paris, 1852) is still a standard book for consultation in respect of the history of silk, gold and silver stuffs.

From indications such as these, as well as those of later date, one sees broadly that the art of weaving and embroidering with gold and silver threads passed from one great city to another, travelling as a rule westward. Babylon, Tarsus, Bagdad, Damascus, the islands of Cyprus and Sicily, Constantinople, Venice and southern Spain appear successively in the process of time as famous centres of these much-prized manufactures. During the middle ages European royal personages and high ecclesiastical dignitaries used cloth and tissues of gold and silver for their state and ceremonial robes, as well as for costly hangings and decoration; and various names--ciclatoun, tartarium, naques or nac, baudekin or baldachin (Bagdad) and tissue--were applied to textiles in the making of which gold threads were almost always introduced in combination with others. The thin flimsy paper known as tissue paper is so called because it originally was placed between the folds of gold "tissue" (or weaving) to prevent the contiguous surfaces from fraying each other. Under the articles dealing with carpets, embroidery, lace and tapestry will be found notices of the occasional use in such productions of gold and silver threads. Of early date in the history of European weaving are rich stuffs produced in Southern Spain by Moors, as well as by Saracenic and Byzantine weavers at Palermo and Constantinople in the 12th century, in which metallic threads were freely used. Equally esteemed at about the same period were corresponding stuffs made in Cyprus, whilst for centuries later the merchants in such fabrics eagerly sought for and traded in Cyprus gold and silver threads. Later the actual manufacture of them was not confined to Cyprus, but was also carried on by Italian thread and trimming makers from the 14th century onwards. For the most part the gold threads referred to were of silver gilt. In rare instances of middle-age Moorish or Arabian fabrics the gold threads are made with strips of parchment or paper gilt and still rarer are instances of the use of real gold wire.

In India the preparation of varieties of gold and silver threads is an ancient and important art. The "gold wire" of the manufacturer has been and is as a rule silver wire gilt, the silver wire being, of course, composed of pure silver. The wire is drawn by means of simple draw-plates, with rude and simple appliances, from rounded bars of silver, or gold-plated silver, as the case may be. The wire is flattened into strip, tinsel or ribbon-like form, by passing fourteen or fifteen strands simultaneously, over a fine, smooth, round-topped anvil and beating each as it passes with a heavy hammer having a slightly convex surface. Such strips or tinsel of wire so flattened are woven into Indian _soniri_, tissue or cloth of gold, the web or warp being composed entirely of golden strips, and _ruperi_, similar tissue of silver. Other gold and silver threads suitable for use in embroidery, pillow and needlepoint lace making, &c., consist of fine strips of flattened wire wound round cores of orange (in the case of silver, white) silk thread so as to completely cover them. Wires flattened or partially flattened are also twisted into exceedingly fine spirals and much used for heavy embroideries. Spangles for embroideries, &c., are made from spirals of comparatively stout wire, by cutting them down ring by ring, laying each C-like ring on an anvil, and by a smart blow with a hammer flattening it out into a thin round disk with a slit extending from the centre to one edge. The demand for many kinds of loom-woven and embroidered gold and silver work in India is immense, and the variety of textiles so ornamented is also very great, chief amongst which are the golden or silvery tinsel fabrics known as kincobs.

Amongst Western communities the demand for gold and silver embroideries and braid lace now exists chiefly in connexion with naval, military and other uniforms, masonic insignia, court costumes, public and private liveries, ecclesiastical robes and draperies, theatrical dresses, &c.

The proportions of gold and silver in the gold thread for the woven braid lace or ribbon trade varies, but in all cases the proportion of gold is exceedingly small. An ordinary gold braid wire is drawn from a bar containing 90 parts of silver and 7 of copper, and plated with 3 of gold. On an average each ounce troy of a bar so plated is drawn into 1500 yds. of wire; and therefore about 16 grains of gold cover 1 m. of wire. (A. S. C.)

GOLDAST AB HAIMINSFELD, MELCHIOR (1576-1635), Swiss writer, an industrious though uncritical collector of documents relating to the medieval history and Constitution of Germany, was born on the 6th of January 1576 (some say 1578), of poor Protestant parents, near Bischofszell, in the Swiss Canton of Thurgau. His university career, first at Ingolstadt (1585-1586), then at Altdorf near Nuremberg (1597-1598), was cut short by his poverty, from which he suffered all his life, and which was the main cause of his wanderings. In 1598 he found a rich protector in the person of Bartholomaeus Schobinger, of St Gall, by whose liberality he was enabled to study at St Gall (where he first became interested in medieval documents, which abound in the conventual library) and elsewhere in Switzerland. Before his patron's death (1604) he became (1603) secretary to Henry, duke of Bouillon, with whom he went to Heidelberg and Frankfort. But in 1604 he entered the service of the Baron von Hohensax, then the possessor of the precious MS. volume of old German poems, returned from Paris to Heidelberg in 1888, and, partially published by Goldast. Soon he was back in Switzerland, and by 1606 in Frankfort, earning his living by preparing and correcting books for the press. In 1611 he was appointed councillor at the court of Saxe-Weimar, and in 1615 he entered the service of the count of Schaumburg at Buckeburg. In 1624 he was forced by the war to retire to Bremen; there in 1625 he deposited his library in that of the town (his books were bought by the town in 1646, but many of his MSS. passed to Queen Christina of Sweden, and hence are now in the Vatican library), he himself returning to Frankfort. In 1627 he became councillor to the emperor and to the archbishop-elector of Treves, and in 1633 passed to the service of the landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. He died at Giessen early in 1635.

His immense industry is shown by the fact that his biographer, Senckenburg, gives a list of 65 works published or written by him, some extending to several substantial volumes. Among the more important are his _Paraeneticorum veterum pars i._ (1604), which contained the old German tales of _Kunig Tyrol von Schotten_, the _Winsbeke_ and the _Winsbekin; Suevicarum rerum scriptores_ (Frankfort, 1605, new edition, 1727); _Rerum Alamannicarum scriptores_ (Frankfort, 1606, new edition by Senckenburg, 1730); _Constitutiones imperiales_ (Frankfort, 1607-1613, 4 vols.); _Monarchia s. Romani imperii_ (Hanover and Frankfort, 1612-1614, 3 vols.); _Commentarii de regni Bohemiae juribus_ (Frankfort, 1627, new edition by Schmink, 1719). He also edited De Thou's _History_ (1609-1610) and Willibald Pirckheimer's works (1610). In 1688 a volume of letters addressed to him by his learned friends was published.

_Life_ by Senckenburg, prefixed to his 1730 work. See also R. von
Raumer's _Geschichte d. germanischen Philologie_ (Munich, 1870).
(W. A. B. C.)

GOLDBEATING.--The art of goldbeating is of great antiquity, being referred to by Homer; and Pliny (_N.H._ 33. 19) states that 1 oz. of gold was extended to 750 leaves, each leaf being four fingers (about 3 in.) square; such a leaf is three times as thick as the ordinary leaf gold of the present time. In all probability the art originated among the Eastern nations, where the working of gold and the use of gold ornaments have been distinguishing characteristics from the most remote periods. On Egyptian mummy cases specimens of original leaf-gilding are met with, where the gold is so thin that it resembles modern gilding (q.v.). The minimum thickness to which gold can be beaten is not known with certainty. According to Mersenne (1621) 1 oz. was spread out over 105 sq. ft.; Reaumur (1711) obtained 146-1/2 sq. ft.; other values are 189 sq. ft. and 300 sq. ft. Its malleability is greatly diminished by the presence of other metals, even in very minute quantity. In practice the average degree of tenuity to which the gold is reduced is not nearly so great as the last example quoted above. A "book of gold" containing 25 leaves measuring each 3-1/4 in., equal to an area of 264 sq. in., generally weighs from 4 to 5 grains.

The gold used by the goldbeater is variously alloyed, according to the colour required. Fine gold is commonly supposed to be incapable of being reduced to thin leaves. This, however, is not the case, although its use for ordinary purposes is undesirable on account of its greater cost. It also adheres on one part of a leaf touching another, thus causing a waste of labour by the leaves being spoiled; but for work exposed to the weather it is much preferable, as it is more durable, and does not tarnish or change colour. The external gilding on many public buildings, e.g. the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens, London, is done with pure gold. The following is a list of the principal classes of leaf recognized and ordinarily prepared by British beaters, with the proportions of alloy per oz. they contain.

+---------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| |Proportion |Proportion |Proportion |
| Name of leaf. | of gold. | of Silver.| of Copper.|
+---------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| | Grains. | Grains. | Grains. |
| Red | 456-460 | .. | 20-24 |
| Pale red | 464 | .. | 16 |
| Extra deep | 456 | 12 | 12 |
| Deep | 444 | 24 | 12 |
| Citron | 440 | 30 | 10 |
| Yellow | 408 | 72 | .. |
| Pale yellow | 384 | 96 | .. |
| Lemon | 360 | 120 | .. |
| Green or pale | 312 | 168 | .. |
| White | 240 | 240 | .. |
+---------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+

The process of goldbeating is as follows: The gold, having been
alloyed according to the colour desired, is melted in a crucible at a
higher temperature than is simply necessary to fuse it, as its
malleability is improved by exposure to a greater heat; sudden cooling
does not interfere with its malleability, gold differing in this
respect from some other metals. It is then cast into an ingot, and
flattened, by rolling between a pair of powerful smooth steel rollers,
into a ribbon of 1-1/2 in. wide and 10 ft. in length to the oz. After
being flattened it is annealed and cut into pieces of about 6-1/2 grs.
each, or about 75 per oz., and placed between the leaves of a "cutch,"
which is about 1/2 in. thick and 3-1/2 in. square, containing about
180 leaves of a tough paper. Formerly fine vellum was used for this
purpose, and generally still it is interleaved in the proportion of
about one of vellum to six of paper. The cutch is beaten on for about
20 minutes with a 17-lb. hammer, which rebounds by the elasticity of
the skin, and saves the labour of lifting, by which the gold is spread
to the size of the cutch; each leaf is then taken out, and cut into
four pieces, and put between the skins of a "shoder," 4-1/2 in. square
and 3/4 in. thick, containing about 720 skins, which have been worn
out in the finishing or "mould" process. The shoder requires about two
hours' beating upon with a 9-lb. hammer. As the gold will spread
unequally, the shoder is beaten upon after the larger leaves have
reached the edges. The effect of this is that the margins of larger
leaves come out of the edges in a state of dust. This allows time for
the smaller leaves to reach the full size of the shoder, thus
producing a general evenness of size in the leaves. Each leaf is again
cut into four pieces, and placed between the leaves of a "mould,"
composed of about 950 of the finest gold-beaters' skins, 5 in. square
and 3/4 in. thick, the contents of one shoder filling three moulds.
The material has now reached the last and most difficult stage of the
process; and on the fineness of the skin and judgment of the workman
the perfection and thinness of the leaf of gold depend. During the
first hour the hammer is allowed to fall principally upon the centre
of the mould. This causes gaping cracks upon the edges of the leaves,
the sides of which readily coalesce and unite without leaving any
trace of the union after being beaten upon. At the second hour, when
the gold is about the 150,000th part of an inch in thickness, it for
the first time permits the transmission of the rays of light. Pure
gold, or gold but slightly alloyed, transmits green rays; gold highly
alloyed with silver transmits pale violet rays. The mould requires in
all about four hours' beating with a 7-lb. hammer, when the ordinary
thinness for the gold leaf of commerce will be reached. A single ounce
of gold will at this stage be extended to 75 X 4 X 4 = 1200 leaves,
which will trim to squares of about 3-1/4 in. each. The finished leaf
is then taken out of the mould, and the rough edges are trimmed off by
slips of the ratan fixed in parallel grooves of an instrument called a
waggon, the leaf being laid upon a leathern cushion. The leaves thus
prepared are placed into "books" capable of holding 25 leaves each,
which have been rubbed over with red ochre to prevent the gold
clinging to the paper. Dentist gold is gold leaf carried no farther
than the cutch stage, and should be perfectly pure gold.

By the above process also silver is beaten, but not so thin, the
inferior value of the metal not rendering it commercially desirable to
bestow so much labour upon it. Copper, tin, zinc, palladium, lead,
cadmium, platinum and aluminium can be beaten into thin leaves, but
not to the same extent as gold or silver.

The fine membrane called goldbeater's skin, used for making up the shoder and mould, is the outer coat of the caecum or blind gut of the ox. It is stripped off in lengths about 25 or 30 in., and freed from fat by dipping in a solution of caustic alkali and scraping with a blunt knife. It is afterwards stretched on a frame; two membranes are glued together, treated with a solution of aromatic substances or camphor in isinglass, and subsequently coated with white of egg. Finally they are cut into squares of 5 or 5-1/2 in.; and to make up a mould of 950 pieces the gut of about 380 oxen is required, about 2-1/2 skins being got from each animal. A skin will endure about 200 beatings in the mould, after which it is fit for use in the shoder alone.

The dryness of the cutch, shoder and mould is a matter of extreme
delicacy. They require to be hot-pressed every time they are used,
although they may be used daily, to remove the moisture which they
acquire from the atmosphere, except in extremely frosty weather, when
they acquire so little moisture that a difficulty arises from their
over-dryness, whereby the brilliancy of the gold is diminished, and it
spreads very slowly under the hammer. On the contrary, if the cutch or
shoder be damp, the gold will become pierced with innumerable
microscopic holes; and in the moulds in its more attenuated state it
will become reduced to a pulverulent state. This condition is more
readily produced in alloyed golds than in fine gold. It is necessary
that each skin of the mould should be rubbed over with calcined gypsum
each time the mould may be used, in order to prevent the adhesion of
the gold to the surface of the skin in beating.

GOLDBERG, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia,[1] 14 m. by rail S.W. of Liegnitz, on the Katzbach, an affluent of the Oder. Pop. (1905) 6804. The principal buildings are an old church dating from the beginning of the 13th century, the Schwabe-Priesemuth institution, completed in 1876, for the board and education of orphans, and the classical school or gymnasium (founded in 1524 by Duke Frederick II. of Liegnitz), which in the 17th century enjoyed great prosperity, and numbered Wallenstein among its pupils. The chief manufactures are woollen cloth, flannel, gloves, stockings, leather and beer, and there is a considerable trade in corn and fruit. Goldberg owes its origin and name to a gold mine in the neighbourhood, which, however, has been wholly abandoned since the time of the Hussite wars. The town obtained civic rights in 1211. It suffered heavily from the Tatars in 1241, from the plague in 1334, from the Hussites in 1428, and from the Saxon, Imperial and Swedish forces during the Thirty Years' War. On the 27th of May 1813 a battle took place near it between the French and the Russians; and on the 23rd and the 27th of August of the same year fights between the allies and the French.

See Sturm, _Geschichte der Stadt Goldberg in Schlesien_ (1887).

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Goldberg is also the name of a small town in the grand-duchy of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

GOLD COAST, that portion of the Guinea Coast (West Africa) which extends from Assini upon the west to the river Volta on the east. It derives its name from the quantities of grains of gold mixed with the sand of the rivers traversing the district. The term Gold Coast is now generally identified with the British Gold Coast colony. This extends from 3 deg. 7' W. to 1 deg. 14' E., the length of the coast-line being about 370 m. It is bounded W. by the Ivory Coast colony (French), E. by Togoland (German). On the north the British possessions, including Ashanti (q.v.) and the Northern Territories, extend to the 11th degree of north latitude. The frontier separating the colony from Ashanti (fixed by order in council, 22nd of October 1906) is in general 130 m. from the coast, but in the central portion of the colony the southern limits of Ashanti project wedge-like to the confluence of the rivers Ofin and Prah, which point is but 60 m. from the sea at Cape Coast. The combined area of the Gold Coast, Ashanti and the Northern Territories, is about 80,000 sq. m., with a total population officially estimated in 1908 at 2,700,000; the Gold Coast colony alone has an area of 24,200 sq. m., with a population of over a million, of whom about 2000 are Europeans.

[Map: Gold Coast and Hinterland.]

_Physical features._--Though the lagoons common to the West African
coast are found both at the western and eastern extremities of the
colony (Assini in the west and Kwitta in the east) the greater part of
the coast-line is of a different character. Cape Three Points (4 deg.
44' 40" N. 2 deg. 5' 45" W.) juts boldly into the sea, forming the
most southerly point of the colony. Thence the coast trends E. by N.,
and is but slightly indented. The usually low sandy beach is, however,
diversified by bold, rocky headlands. The flat belt of country does
not extend inland any considerable distance, the spurs of the great
plateau which forms the major part of West Africa advancing in the
east, in the Akwapim district, near to the coast. Here the hills reach
an altitude of over 2000 ft. Out of the level plain rise many isolated
peaks, generally of conical formation. Numerous rivers descend from
the hills, but bars of sand block their mouths, and the Gold Coast
possesses no harbours. Great Atlantic rollers break unceasingly upon
the shore. The chief rivers are the Volta (q.v.), the Ankobra and the
Prah. The Ankobra or Snake river traverses auriferous country, and
reaches the sea some 20 m. west of Cape Three Points. It has a course
of about 150 m., and is navigable in steam launches for about 80 m.
The Prah ("Busum Prah," sacred river) is regarded as a fetish stream
by the Fanti and Ashanti. One of its sub-tributaries has its rise near
Kumasi. The Prah rises in the N.E. of the colony and flows S.W. Some
60 m. from its mouth it is joined by the Ofin, which comes from the
north-west. The united stream flows S. and reaches the sea in 1 deg.
35' W. As a waterway the river, which has a course of 400 m., is
almost useless, owing to the many cataracts in its course. Another
river is the Tano, which for some distance in its lower course forms
the boundary between the colony and the Ivory Coast.

_Geology._--Cretaceous rocks occur at intervals along the coast belt,
but are mostly hidden under an extensive development of superficial
deposits. Basalt occurs at Axim. Inland is a broad belt of sandstone
and marl with an occasional band of auriferous conglomerate, best
known and most extensively worked for gold in the Wasaw district.
Though the conglomerates bear some resemblance to the "Banket" of
South Africa they are most probably of more recent date. The alluvial
silts and gravels also carry gold.

_Climate._--The climate on the coast is hot, moist and unhealthy,
especially for Europeans. The mean temperature in the shade in the
coast towns is 78 deg. to 80 deg. F. Fevers and dysentery are the
diseases most to be dreaded by the European. The native inhabitants,
although they enjoy tolerable health and live to an average age, are
subject in the rainy season to numerous chest complaints. There are
two wet seasons. From April to August are the greater rains, whilst in
October and November occur the "smalls" or second rains. From the end
of December to March the dry harmattan wind blows from the Sahara. In
consequence of the prevalence of the sea-breeze from the south-west
the western portion of the colony, up to the mouth of the Sekum river
(a small stream to the west of Accra), is called the windward
district, the eastward portion being known as the leeward. The
rainfall at Accra, in the leeward district, averages 27 in. in the
year, but at places in the windward district is much greater,
averaging 79 in. at Axim.

_Flora._--The greater part (probably three-fourths) of the colony is
covered with primeval forest. Here the vegetation is so luxuriant that
for great distances the sky is shut out from view. As a result of the
struggle to reach the sunlight the forest growths are almost entirely
vertical. The chief trees are silk cottons, especially the bombax, and
gigantic hard-wood trees, such as the African mahogany, ebony, odum
and camwood. The bombax rises for over 100 ft., a straight column-like
shaft, 25 to 30 ft. in circumference, and then throws out horizontally
a large number of branches. The lowest growth in the forest consists
of ferns and herbaceous plants. Of the ferns some are climbers
reaching 30 to 40 ft. up the stems of the trees they entwine.
Flowering plants are comparatively rare; they include orchids and a
beautiful white lily. The "bush" or intermediate growth is made up of
smaller trees, the rubber vine and other creepers, some as thick as
hawsers, bamboos and sensitive mimosa, and has a height of from 30 to
60 ft. The creepers are found not only in the bush, but on the ground
and hanging from the branches of the highest trees. West of the Prah
the forest comes down to the edge of the Atlantic. East of that river
the coast land is covered with bushes 5 to 12 ft. high, occasional
large trees and groves of oil palms. Still farther east, by Accra, are
numerous arborescent Euphorbias, and immediately west of the lower
Volta forests of oil palms and grassy plains with fan palms. Behind
all these eastern regions is a belt of thin forest country before the
denser forest is reached. In the north-east are stretches of
orchard-like country with wild plum, shea-butter and kola trees,
baobabs, dwarf date and fan palms. The cotton and tobacco plants grow
wild. At the mouths of the rivers and along the lagoons the mangrove
is the characteristic tree. There are numerous coco-nut palms along
the coast. The fruit trees and plants also include the orange,
pine-apple, mango, papaw, banana and avocado or alligator pear.

_Fauna._--The fauna includes leopards, panthers, hyenas, Potto lemurs,
jackals, antelopes, buffaloes, wild-hogs and many kinds of monkey,
including the chimpanzee and the _Colobus vellerosus_, whose skin,
with long black silky hair, is much prized in Europe. The elephant has
been almost exterminated by ivory hunters. The snakes include pythons,
cobras, horned and puff adders and the venomous water snake. Among the
lesser denizens of the forest are the squirrel and porcupine.
Crocodiles and in fewer numbers manatees and otters frequent the
rivers and lagoons and hippopotami are found in the Volta. Lizards of
brilliant hue, tortoises and great snails are common. Birds, which are
not very numerous, include parrots and hornbills, kingfishers,
ospreys, herons, crossbills, curlews, woodpeckers, doves, pigeons,
storks, pelicans, swallows, vultures and the spur plover (the
last-named rare). Shoals of herrings frequent the coast, and the other
fish include mackerel, sole, skate, mullet, bonito, flying fish,
fighting fish and shynose. Sharks abound at the mouths of all the
rivers, edible turtle are fairly common, as are the sword fish,
dolphin and sting ray (with poisonous caudal spine). Oysters are
numerous on rocks running into the sea and on the exposed roots of
mangrove trees. Insect life is multitudinous; beetles, spiders, ants,
fireflies, butterflies and jiggers abound. The earthworm is rare. The
mosquitos include the _Culex_ or ordinary kind, the _Anopheles_, which
carry malarial fever, and the _Stegomyia_, a striped white and black
mosquito which carries yellow-fever.

_Inhabitants._--The natives are all of the Negro race. The most
important tribe is the Fanti (q.v.), and the Fanti language is
generally understood throughout the colony. The Fanti and Ashanti are
believed to have a common origin. It is certain that the Fanti came
originally from the north and conquered many of the coast tribes, who
anciently had owned the rule of the king of Benin. The districts in
general are named after the tribes inhabiting them. Those in the
western part of the colony are mainly of Fanti stock; the Accra and
allied tribes inhabit the eastern portion and are believed to be the
aboriginal inhabitants. The Akim (Akem), who occupy the north-east
portion of the colony, have engaged in gold-digging from time
immemorial. The capital of their country is Kibbi. The Akwapim
(Aquapem), southern neighbours of the Akim, are extensively engaged in
agriculture and in trade. The Accra, a clever race, are to be found in
all the towns of the West African coast as artisans and sailors. They
are employed by the interior tribes as middlemen and interpreters. On
the right bank of the Volta occupying the low marshy land near the sea
are the Adangme. The Krobos live in little villages in the midst of
the palm tree woods which grow round about the Kroboberg, an eminence
about 1000 ft. high. Their country lies between that of the Akim and
the Adangme. In the west of the colony is the Ahanta country, formerly
an independent kingdom. The inhabitants were noted for their skill in
war. They are one of the finest and most intelligent of the tribes of
Accra stock. The Apollonia, a kindred race, occupy the coast region
nearest the Ivory Coast.

Native Languages.

The Tshi, Tchwi or Chi language,[1] which is that spoken on the Gold
Coast, belongs to the great prefix-pronominal group. It comprises many
dialects, which may, however, be reduced to two classes or types. Akan
dialects are spoken in Assini, Amanahia (Apollonia), Awini, Ahanta,
Wasaw, Tshuforo (Juffer or Tufel), and Denkyera in the west, and in
Asen, Akim, and Akwapim in the east, as well as in the different parts
of Ashanti. Fanti dialects are spoken, not only in Fanti proper, but
in Afutu or the country round Cape Coast, in Abora, Agymako, Akomfi,
Gomoa and Agona. The difference between the two types is not very
great; a Fanti, for example, can converse without much difficulty with
a native of Akwapim or Ashanti, his language being in fact a
deteriorated form of the same original. Akim is considered the finest
and purest of all the Akan dialects. The Akwapim, which is based on
the Akim but has imbibed Fanti influences, has been made the
book-language by the Basel missionaries. They had reduced it to
writing before 1850. About a million people in all, it is estimated,
speak dialects of the Tshi.

The south-eastern corner of the Gold Coast is occupied by another
language known as the Ga or Accra, which comprises the Ga proper and
the Adangme and Krobo dialects. Ga proper is spoken by about 40,000
people, including the inhabitants of Ga and Kinka (i.e. Accra, in
Tshi, Nkran and Kankan), Osu (i.e. Christiansborg), La, Tessi, Ningua
and numerous inland villages. It has been reduced to writing by the
missionaries. The Adangme and Krobo dialects are spoken by about
80,000 people. They differ very considerably from Ga proper, but books
printed in Ga can be used by both the Krobo and Adangme natives.
Another language known as Guan is used in parts of Akwapim and in Anum
beyond the Volta; but not much is known either about it or the Obutu
tongue spoken in a few towns in Agona, Gomoa and Akomfi.

Religion and education.

Fetishism (q.v.) is the prevailing religion of all the tribes. Belief
in a God is universal, as also is a belief in a future state.
Christianity and Mahommedanism are both making progress. The natives
professing Christianity number about 40,000. A Moravian mission was
started at Christiansborg about 1736; the Basel mission (Evangelical)
was begun in 1828, the missionaries combining manual training and farm
labour with purely religious work; the Wesleyans started a mission
among the Fanti in 1835, and the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches
are also represented, as well as the Bremen Missionary Society.
Elementary education is chiefly in the hands of the Wesleyan, Basel,
Bremen and Roman Catholic missions, who have schools at many towns
along the coast and in the interior. There are also government and
Mahommedan schools. The natives generally are extremely intelligent.
They obtain easily the means of subsistence, and are disinclined to
unaccustomed labour, such as working in mines. They are keen traders.
The native custom of burying the dead under the floors of the houses
prevailed until 1874, when it was prohibited by the British
authorities.

_Towns._--Unlike the other British possessions on the west coast of
Africa, the colony has many towns along the shore, this being due to
the multiplicity of traders of rival nations who went thither in quest
of gold. Beginning at the west, Newtown, on the Assini or Eyi lagoon,
is just within the British frontier. The first place of importance
reached is Axim (pop., 1901, 2189), the site of an old Dutch fort
built near the mouth of the Axim river, and in the pre-railway days
the port of the gold region. Rounding Cape Three Points, whose
vicinity is marked by a line of breakers nearly 2-1/2 m. long, Dixcove
is reached. Twenty miles farther east is Sekondi (q.v.), (pop. about
5000), the starting-point of the railway to the goldfields and Kumasi.
Elmina (q.v.), formerly one of the most important posts of European
settlement, is reached some distance after passing the mouth of the
Prah. Eight miles east of Elmina is Cape Coast (q.v.), pop. (1901)
28,948. Anamabo is 9 m. farther east. Here, in 1807, a handful of
English soldiers made a heroic and successful defence of its fort
against the whole Ashanti host. Saltpond, towards the end of the 19th
century, diverted to itself the trade formerly done by Anamabo, from
which it is distant 9 m. Saltpond is a well-built, flourishing town,
and is singular in possessing no ancient fort. Between Anamabo and
Saltpond is Kormantine (Cormantyne), noted as the place whence the
English first exported slaves from this coast. Hence the general name
Coromantynes given in the West Indies to slaves from the Gold Coast.
Eighty miles from Cape Coast is Accra (q.v.) (pop. 17,892), capital of
the colony. (Winnebah is passed 30 m. before Accra is reached. It is
an old town noted for the manufacture of canoes.) There is no station
of much importance in the 60 m. between Accra and the Volta, on the
right bank of which river, near its mouth, is the town of Addah (pop.
13,240). Kwitta (pop. 3018) lies beyond the Volta not far from the
German frontier. Of the inland towns Akropong, the residence of the
king of Akwapim, is one of the best known. It is 39 m. N.E. of Accra,
stands on a ridge 1400 ft. above sea-level, and is a healthy place for
European residents. At Akropong are the headquarters of the Basel
Missionary Society. Akuse is a large town on the banks of the Volta.
Tarkwa is the centre of the gold mining industry in the Wasaw
district. Its importance dates from the beginning of the 20th century.
Accra, Cape Coast and Sekondi possess municipal government.

_Agriculture and Trade._--The soil is everywhere very fertile and the
needs of the people being few there is little incentive to work. The
forests alone supply an inexhaustible source of wealth, notably in the
oil palm. Among vegetable products cultivated are cocoa, cotton,
Indian corn, yams, cassava, peas, peppers, onions, tomatoes,
groundnuts (_Arachis hypogaea_), Guinea corn (_Sorghum vulgare_) and
Guinea grains (_Amomum grana-paradisi_). The most common article of
cultivation is, however, the kola nut (_Sterculia acuminata_), the
favourite substitute in West Africa for the betel nut. In 1890 efforts
were made by the establishment of a government botanical station at
Aburi in the Accra district to induce the natives to improve their
methods of cultivation and to enlarge the number of their crops. This
resulted in the formation of hundreds of cocoa plantations, chiefly in
the district immediately north of Accra. Subsequently the cultivation
of the plant extended to every district of the colony. The industry
had been founded in 1879 by a native of Accra, but it was not until
1901, as the result of the government's fostering care, that the
export became of importance. In that year the quantity exported
slightly exceeded 2,000,000 lb. and fetched L42,000. In 1907 the
quantity exported was nearly 21,000,000 lb. and in value exceeded
L515,000. In 1904 efforts were begun by the government and the British
Cotton Growing Association in co-operation to foster the growing of
cotton for export and by 1907 the cotton industry had become firmly
established. Tobacco and coffee are grown at some of the Basel
missionary stations.

The chief exports are gold, palm oil and palm kernels, cocoa, rubber,
timber (including mahogany) and kola nuts. Of these articles the gold
and rubber are shipped chiefly to England, whilst Germany, France and
America, take the palm products and groundnuts. The rubber comes
chiefly from Ashanti. The imports consist of cotton goods, rum, gin
and other spirits, rice, sugar, tobacco, beads, machinery, building
materials and European goods generally.

The value of the trade increased from L1,628,309 in 1896 to L4,055,351
in 1906. In the last named year the imports were valued at L2,058,839
and the exports at L1,996,412. While the value of imports had remained
nearly stationary since 1902 the value of exports had nearly trebled
in that period. In the five years 1903-1907 the total trade increased
from L3,063,486 to L5,007,869. Great Britain and British colonies take
66% of the exports and supply over 60% of the imports. In both import
and export trade Germany is second, followed by France and the United
States. Specie is included in these totals, over a quarter of a
million being imported in 1904.

Fishing is carried on extensively along the coast, and salted and
sun-dried fish from Addah and Kwitta districts find a ready sale
inland. Cloths are woven by the natives from home-grown and imported
yarn; the making of canoes, from the silk-cotton trees, is a
flourishing industry, and salt from the lagoons near Addah is roughly
prepared. There are also native artificers in gold and other metals,
the workmanship in some cases being of conspicuous merit. Odum wood is
largely used in building and for cabinet work.

_Gold Mining._--Gold is found in almost every part of the colony, but
only in a few districts in paying quantities. Although since the
discovery of the coast gold had been continuously exported to Europe
from its ports, it was not until the last twenty years of the 19th
century that efforts were made to extract gold according to modern
methods. The richness of the Tarkwa main reef was first discovered by
a French trader, M. J. Bennat, about 1880. During the period 1880 to
1900 the value of the gold exported varied from a minimum of L32,000
to a maximum (1889) of L103,000. The increased interest shown in the
industry led to the construction of a railway (see below) to the chief
goldfields, whereby the difficulties of transport were largely
overcome. Consequent upon the taking up of a number of concessions, a
concessions ordinance was issued in August 1900. This was followed in
1901 by the grant of 2825 concessions, and a "boom" in the West
African market on the London stock exchange. Many concessions were
speedily abandoned, and in 1901 the export of gold dropped to its
lowest point, 6162 oz., worth L22,186, but in 1902 a large company
began crushing ore and the output of gold rose to 26,911 oz., valued
at L96,880. In 1907 the export was 292,125 oz., worth L1,164,676. It
should be noted that one of the principal gold mines is not in the
colony proper, but at Obuassi in Ashanti. Underground labour is
performed mainly by Basas and Krumen from Liberia. Of native tribes
the Apollonia have proved the best for underground work, as they have
mining traditions dating from Portuguese times. A good deal of
alluvial gold is obtained by dredging apparatus. The use of dredging
apparatus is modern, but the natives have worked the alluvial soil and
the sand of the seashore for generations to get the gold they contain.

_Communications._--The colony possesses a railway, built and owned by
the government, which serves the gold mines, and has its sea terminus
at Sekondi. Work was begun in August 1898, but owing to the
disturbance caused by the Ashanti rising of 1900 the rails only
reached Tarkwa (39 m.) in May 1901. Thence the line is carried to
Kumasi, the distance to Obuassi (124 m.) being completed by December
1902, whilst the first train entered the Ashanti capital on the 1st of
October 1903. The total length of the line is 168 m. The cost of
construction was L1,820,000. The line has a gauge 3 ft. 6 in. There is
a branch line, 20 m. long, from Tarkwa N.W. to Prestea on the Ankobra
river. Another railway, built 1907-10, 35 m. in length, runs from
Accra to Mangoase, in the centre of the chief cocoa plantations. An
extension to Kumasi has been surveyed.

Tortuous bush tracks are the usual means of internal communication.
These are kept in fair order in the neighbourhood of government
stations. There is a well-constructed road 141 m. long from Cape Coast
to Kumasi, and roads connecting neighbouring towns are maintained by
the government. Systematic attempts to make use of the upper Volta as
a means of conveying goods to the interior were first tried in 1900.
The rapids about 60 m. from the mouth of the river effectually prevent
boats of large size passing up the stream. Where railways or canoes
are not available goods are generally carried on the heads of porters,
60 lb. being a full load. Telegraphs, introduced in 1882, connect all
the important towns in the colony, and a line starting at Cape Coast
stretches far inland, via Kumasi to Wa in the Northern Territories.
Accra and Sekondi are in telegraphic communication with Europe, the
Ivory Coast, Lagos and the Cape of Good Hope. There is regular and
frequent steamship communication with Europe by British, Belgian and
German lines.